Isaiah 62:6

62:6 I ¹  post watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem;

they should keep praying all day and all night. ² 

You who pray to ³  the Lord, don’t be silent!

Isaiah 62:2

62:2 Nations will see your vindication,

and all kings your splendor.

You will be called by a new name

that the Lord himself will give you. ⁴ 

Isaiah 9:17-20

9:17 So the sovereign master was not pleased ⁵  with their young men,

he took no pity ⁶  on their orphans and widows;

for the whole nation was godless ⁷  and did wicked things, ⁸ 

every mouth was speaking disgraceful words. ⁹ 

Despite all this, his anger does not subside,

and his hand is ready to strike again. ¹⁰ 

9:18 For ¹¹  evil burned like a fire, ¹² 

it consumed thorns and briers;

it burned up the thickets of the forest,

and they went up in smoke. ¹³ 

9:19 Because of the anger of the Lord who commands armies, the land was scorched, ¹⁴ 

and the people became fuel for the fire. ¹⁵ 

People had no compassion on one another. ¹⁶ 

9:20 They devoured ¹⁷  on the right, but were still hungry,

they ate on the left, but were not satisfied.

People even ate ¹⁸  the flesh of their own arm! ¹⁹ 

Jeremiah 51:12-13

51:12 Give the signal to attack Babylon’s wall! ²⁰ 

Bring more guards! ²¹ 

Post them all around the city! ²² 

Put men in ambush! ²³ 

For the Lord will do what he has planned.

He will do what he said he would do to the people of Babylon. ²⁴ 

51:13 “You who live along the rivers of Babylon, ²⁵ 

the time of your end has come.

You who are rich in plundered treasure,

it is time for your lives to be cut off. ²⁶ 

Ezekiel 3:17

3:17 “Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman ²⁷  for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must give them a warning from me.

Ezekiel 33:2-7

33:2 “Son of man, speak to your people, ²⁸  and say to them, ‘Suppose I bring a sword against the land, and the people of the land take one man from their borders and make him their watchman. 33:3 He sees the sword coming against the land, blows the trumpet, ²⁹  and warns the people, ³⁰  33:4 but there is one who hears the sound of the trumpet yet does not heed the warning. Then the sword comes and sweeps him away. He will be responsible for his own death. ³¹  33:5 He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not heed the warning, so he is responsible for himself. ³²  If he had heeded the warning, he would have saved his life. 33:6 But suppose the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people. Then the sword comes and takes one of their lives. He is swept away for his iniquity, ³³  but I will hold the watchman accountable for that person’s death.’ ³⁴ 

33:7 “As for you, son of man, I have made you a watchman ³⁵  for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must warn them on my behalf.

Habakkuk 2:1-2

2:1 I will stand at my watch post;

I will remain stationed on the city wall. ³⁶ 

I will keep watching, so I can see what he says to me

and can know ³⁷  how I should answer

when he counters my argument. ³⁸ 

The Lord Assures Habakkuk

2:2 The Lord responded: ³⁹ 

“Write down this message! ⁴⁰  Record it legibly on tablets,

so the one who announces ⁴¹  it may read it easily. ⁴² 

[62:6]  ¹ sn The speaker here is probably the prophet.

[62:6]  ² tn Heb “all day and all night continually they do not keep silent.” The following lines suggest that they pray for the Lord’s intervention and restoration of the city.

[62:6]  ³ tn Or “invoke”; NIV “call on”; NASB, NRSV “remind.”

[62:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “which the mouth of the Lord will designate.”

[9:17]  ⁵ tn The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has לא יחמול (“he did not spare”) which is an obvious attempt to tighten the parallelism (note “he took no pity” in the next line). Instead of taking שָׂמַח (samakh) in one of its well attested senses (“rejoice over, be pleased with”), some propose, with support from Arabic, a rare homonymic root meaning “be merciful.”

[9:17]  ⁶ tn The translation understands the prefixed verbs יִשְׂמַח (yismakh) and יְרַחֵם (yÿrakhem) as preterites without vav (ו) consecutive. (See v. 11 and the note on “he stirred up.”)

[9:17]  ⁷ tn Or “defiled”; cf. ASV “profane”; NAB “profaned”; NIV “ungodly.”

[9:17]  ⁸ tn מֵרַע (mera’) is a Hiphil participle from רָעַע (ra’a’, “be evil”). The intransitive Hiphil has an exhibitive force here, indicating that they exhibited outwardly the evidence of an inward condition by committing evil deeds.

[9:17]  ⁹ tn Or “foolishness” (NASB), here in a moral-ethical sense.

[9:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “in all this his anger is not turned, and still his hand is outstretched.”

[9:18]  ¹¹ tn Or “Indeed” (cf. NIV “Surely”). The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[9:18]  ¹² sn Evil was uncontrollable and destructive, and so can be compared to a forest fire.

[9:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “and they swirled [with] the rising of the smoke” (cf. NRSV).

[9:19]  ¹⁴ tn The precise meaning of the verb עְתַּם (’ÿtam), which occurs only here, is uncertain, though the context strongly suggests that it means “burn, scorch.”

[9:19]  ¹⁵ sn The uncontrollable fire of the people’s wickedness (v. 18) is intensified by the fire of the Lord’s judgment (v. 19). God allows (or causes) their wickedness to become self-destructive as civil strife and civil war break out in the land.

[9:19]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “men were not showing compassion to their brothers.” The idiom “men to their brothers” is idiomatic for reciprocity. The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite without vav (ו) consecutive or an imperfect used in a customary sense, describing continual or repeated behavior in past time.

[9:20]  ¹⁷ tn Or “cut.” The verb גָּזַר (gazar) means “to cut.” If it is understood here, then one might paraphrase, “They slice off meat on the right.” However, HALOT 187 s.v. I גזר, proposes here a rare homonym meaning “to devour.”

[9:20]  ¹⁸ tn The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite without vav consecutive or an imperfect used in a customary sense, describing continual or repeated behavior in past time.

[9:20]  ¹⁹ tn Some suggest that זְרֹעוֹ (zÿro’o, “his arm”) be repointed זַרְעוֹ (zar’o, “his offspring”). In either case, the metaphor is that of a desperately hungry man who resorts to an almost unthinkable act to satisfy his appetite. He eats everything he can find to his right, but still being unsatisfied, then turns to his left and eats everything he can find there. Still being desperate for food, he then resorts to eating his own flesh (or offspring, as this phrase is metaphorically understood by some English versions, e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, NLT). The reality behind the metaphor is the political turmoil of the period, as the next verse explains. There was civil strife within the northern kingdom; even the descendants of Joseph were at each other’s throats. Then the northern kingdom turned on their southern brother, Judah.

[51:12]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Raise a banner against the walls of Babylon.”

[51:12]  ²¹ tn Heb “Strengthen the watch.”

[51:12]  ²² tn Heb “Station the guards.”

[51:12]  ²³ tn Heb “Prepare ambushes.”

[51:12]  ²⁴ tn Heb “For the Lord has both planned and done what he said concerning the people living in Babylon,” i.e., “he has carried out what he planned.” Here is an obvious case where the perfects are to be interpreted as prophetic; the commands imply that the attack is still future.

[51:13]  ²⁵ sn Babylon was situated on the Euphrates River and was surrounded by canals (also called “rivers”).

[51:13]  ²⁶ tn Heb “You who live upon [or beside] many waters, rich in treasures, your end has come, the cubit of your cutting off.” The sentence has been restructured and paraphrased to provide clarity for the average reader. The meaning of the last phrase is debated. For a discussion of the two options see W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 2:423. Most modern commentaries and English versions see an allusion to the figure in Isa 38:12 where the reference is to the end of life compared to a tapestry which is suddenly cut off from the loom. Hence, NRSV renders the last line as “the thread of your life is cut” and TEV renders “its thread of life is cut.” That idea is accepted also in HALOT 141 s.v. בצע Qal.1.

[3:17]  ²⁷ tn The literal role of a watchman is described in 2 Sam 18:24; 2 Kgs 9:17.

[33:2]  ²⁸ tn Heb “sons of your people.”

[33:3]  ²⁹ tn Heb “shofar,” a ram’s horn rather than a brass instrument (so throughout the chapter).

[33:3]  ³⁰ tn Sounding the trumpet was a warning of imminent danger (Neh 4:18-20; Jer 4:19; Amos 3:6).

[33:4]  ³¹ tn Heb “his blood will be on his own head.”

[33:5]  ³² tn Heb “his blood will be on him.”

[33:6]  ³³ tn Or “in his punishment.” The phrase “in/for [a person’s] iniquity/punishment” occurs fourteen times in Ezekiel: here and in vv. 8 and 9; 3:18, 19; 4:17; 7:13, 16; 18: 17, 18, 19, 20; 24:23; 39:23. The Hebrew word for “iniquity” may also mean the “punishment” for iniquity or “guilt” of iniquity.

[33:6]  ³⁴ tn Heb “his blood from the hand of the watchman I will seek.”

[33:7]  ³⁵ sn Jeremiah (Jer 6:17) and Habakkuk (Hab 2:1) also served in the role of a watchman.

[2:1]  ³⁶ sn Habakkuk compares himself to a watchman stationed on the city wall who keeps his eyes open for approaching messengers or danger.

[2:1]  ³⁷ tn The word “know” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[2:1]  ³⁸ tn Heb “concerning my correction [or, “reproof”].”

[2:2]  ³⁹ tn Heb “the Lord answered and said.” The redundant expression “answered and said” has been simplified in the translation as “responded.”

[2:2]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “[the] vision.”

[2:2]  ⁴¹ tn Or “reads from.”

[2:2]  ⁴² tn Heb “might run,” which here probably means “run [through it quickly with one’s eyes],” that is, read it easily.